NEW DELHI: Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi's remarks on ending caste-based reservation and going for quota on economic criteria created a stir today with SP stoutly opposing the proposal and BJP and SAD questioning its timing. SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav said, "By suggesting replacing caste-based quota system with economic criteria, Congress is trying to end the social justice system in the country. " At a time when quota is the buzz word in politics,...

SANTINIKETAN: Bangladesh President Md Abdul Hamid today visited Visva Bharati here and took keen interest in viewing the memorabilia of the Bard. Hamid accompanied by varsity official visited the heritage Rabindra Bhavan compound at around 12:15 pm and went through the memorabilia of the Bard for half an hour. The Bangladesh President met the Vice Chancellor Sushanta Duttagupta and interacted with him for about five minutes,...

NEW DELHI: In a major change in policy, the government on Wednesday removed the cap on sugar exports and placed the commodity under the open general licence category like wheat and rice. This decision was taken at the meeting called by prime minister to discuss farm exports with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee , agriculture minister Sharad Pawar , commerce minister Anand Sharma and food minister K V Thomas. ...

NEW DELHI: CII wants the cap on the application amount for retail investors in IPOs to be raised from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. This will provide greater leeway for retail participation, according to CII capital market panel chairman Nimesh Kampani. He said it was necessary to have retail quotas in IPOs to avoid unequal distribution of wealth. CII has proposed a restructured quota system for IPOs with 35% for individual applications worth Rs 10 lakh and less, 10% for...

KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi today said agitations by students in the state were bringing disrepute to their institutions and he was unable to understand why they were being so indisciplined. "I don't know why the students are becoming so indisciplined, why they are losing their respect for their teachers...why they are going to defame their institutions where they are studying. I do not like all these things," Tripathi said. He was...

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi's remarks on ending caste-based reservation and going for quota on economic criteria created a stir today with SP stoutly opposing the proposal and BJP and SAD questioning its timing. SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav said, "By suggesting replacing caste-based quota system with economic criteria, Congress is trying to end the social justice system in the country. " At a time when quota is the buzz word in...

Indian industry just keeps on harping on Affirmative Action as the best possible antidote to the quota system that the government proposes in the institutions of higher learning and private sector jobs. It is time they demonstrated their version of affirmative action, may be as a pilot project in some states. The lessons learnt from such projects can be used as inputs in formulating a more inclusive and approach for tackling the inequality prevalent in the society.

NEW DELHI: Putting speculation of modifications in sugar exports rules to rest, food minister K V Thomas said that the sugar exports will continue as per the prevailing quota system. "There will be no change in the rules for sugar shipment . The present system will be applicable for exporting the export the third tranche of 1 million tonne as well," he said. The empowered group of ministers on food, in its recently held meeting, had asked the food ministry to lax norms and...

NEW DELHI: Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar's outburst against the slow pace of sugar exports in a recent letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has taken the food ministry by surprise. Though none of the officials came out in open, they countered the allegations hurled at the food ministry in the letter. In the letter, Pawar appeared to be critical about the existing quota system of allocating export quantity among mills, which the...

HYDERABAD: The textile sector is set to create 1.4m jobs in Andhra Pradesh by '15. About 719,000 will be created in spinning, weaving and garmenting, according to a CII vision document for the AP textile industry. The document, which analyses AP's potential to become a future textile destination, was released by chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy. It states that dismantling of the quota system in January last year has changed the face of the Indian...

NEW DELHI: The reservation for small investors in public issues may go. In the economic survey, tabled in Parliament on Monday, government underlined the need to remove quotas for small investors to unify auction system. The survey also indicated introduction of the grading of public issues by unlisted companies. Doing away with quota system in public issue would put small investors at a disadvantage. At present, small investors' portion of a public issue...

LUCKNOW: Terming the UPA government as "anti-backward," SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today launched a campaign to woo the community and said the yatras would pave the way for a change of power at the Centre. "For inclusion of 17 most backward castes of OBC in Scheduled Caste, my previous government and current Akhilesh regime have passed two resolutions and sent them to the Centre, but they were overlooked," Mulayam said, flagging off two rallies to raise awareness among...

WASHINGTON: The United States has said that the IMF quota should reflect the country's weight in global economy , describing the quota system as the fundamental building block of the International Monetary Fund. "IMF quotas are the fundamental building block of the Fund, and it is important that quotas reflect countries' weight in the global economy," US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, in his address to the IMF committee, yesterday said. The statement gains...

NEW DELHI: Concerned over high retail prices of sugar, an inter-ministerial group on inflation suggested that the food ministry should release more quantity in the open market and allocate the sweetener for six months instead of the present quota system of three months. The members of the Inter Ministerial Group (IMG), headed by Chief Economic Advisor Raghuram Rajan , in its meeting earlier this month had agreed that the government should...

NEW DELHI: In a major change in policy, the government on Wednesday removed the cap on sugar exports and placed the commodity under the open general licence category like wheat and rice. This decision was taken at the meeting called by prime minister to discuss farm exports with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee , agriculture minister Sharad Pawar , commerce minister Anand Sharma and food minister K V Thomas. ...

NEW DELHI: Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar's outburst against the slow pace of sugar exports in a recent letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has taken the food ministry by surprise. Though none of the officials came out in open, they countered the allegations hurled at the food ministry in the letter. In the letter, Pawar appeared to be critical about the existing quota system of allocating export quantity among mills, which the...

Reservation to ensure fair representation of women in national legislative bodies seems more the norm than the exception globally, with almost 100 countries having some kind of quota system or the other in place. India happens to be in a minority group of over 20 countries that have no system at all to ensure a more gender-balanced national legislature. Hopefully that is soon set to change. The average proportion of women in the national legislature is 18.5% for the Asian...

NEW DELHI: Putting speculation of modifications in sugar exports rules to rest, food minister K V Thomas said that the sugar exports will continue as per the prevailing quota system. "There will be no change in the rules for sugar shipment . The present system will be applicable for exporting the export the third tranche of 1 million tonne as well," he said. The empowered group of ministers on food, in its recently held meeting, had asked the food ministry to lax norms and...

PUNE: The government has relaxed rules for sugar exports after red tape kept 70% of the quota locked within the country and put pressure on mill cash flows. Mills that had been trading old export licences to make a quick buck will find them virtually worthless after 10 lakh tonne was allowed to be shipped on first-come-first-serve basis. Sugar stocks rose following a government decision to export the third tranche of 10 lakh tonne in 2012 and were...